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Observing with Small Apertures: 130mm and Below

Discussion in 'Telescopes and Mounts' started by Ray of Light, Jul 26, 2016.

Observing with Small Apertures: 130mm and Below

Started by Ray of Light on Jul 26, 2016 at 5:34 AM

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  1. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Backing up a bit:

    Yes - we call 'Estate' autos 'Station Wagons' or 'Wagons.' Why? Likely it's a flashback to 'Manifest Destiny' and the "Taming of the Wild West." 'Wagon-Trains?' Made-up of the Conestoga Wagon - no doubt after some Mr. Conestoga who is lost in the winds of time - that the 'Pioneers' had packed all their goods and struck out to make a new life for themselves' and families. Some blissfully got lost and, starving in the snow somewhere - ate each other. I'm sure the selection process for the Entreé du Jour was selected in the All-American Democratic way! With a knife-in-the-back!

    Conestoga Wagon.jpg

    SvBony. eh? Fascinating! The gold colour-scheme reminds of the Coronado EP's - which I've also never tried. And this glowing report on the views elicited through same - I'm entranced enough to want 'em! Darn you!!

    Me thinks I know what I'll be researching later on.....

    Software is having a fit! Later -

    evad - getting wrench...
     
  2. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Oddly, large articulated lorries (trucks?) are often referred to as waggons here. I thought the station waggon was thus called because similar looking vehicles were used at railway stations or airports in the US at one time and the name stuck. I think your explanation is more graphically colourful though lol. Speaking of estate cars, believe it or not there is an Allegro Estate owners club. They all probably pretend they're driving Reliant Scimitars.

    MaxthonSnap20171003121019.jpg

    The Scimitar became famous here when a possibly slightly inebriated Princess Anne raced a police Jaguar up the M1 sometime in the 1970's before being nicked for it by the Old Bill. Having a fibreglass body, suspension like a Lotus Elan and the now legendary British designed and built 3.4 litre V6 Ford Essex engine (a precursor to the even more famous Ford Cosworth V6 racing engine) the Scimitar became a legend in its own lunchtime as it easily outpaced the police Jag. Sales went through the roof as people wanted to emulate royalty and race police motorway pursuit Jaguars on a regular basis. I don't know whether it was marketed in the States as apparently Reliant had some problems with California's strict emission laws.

    MaxthonSnap20171003123706.jpg

    https://www.amazon.com/SVBONY-Teles...444&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=svbony+eyepiece+kit

    The SvBony Aspherics are on sale your neck of the globe, seems auspicious Dave, you have to pull the trigger now!
     
  3. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    I'll get you for this.....! <grumble> <snarl> <froth>

    I blissfully don't drive. I can't begin to tabulate the amount of $$$£££ I've save as a result. But I call this malady that befalls 16 year olds (male mostly) - 'The Car-Bug.'

    When a kid hits 16, he feels an un-earthly compulsion to get behind the wheel of Dad's Ford Whatsit and wrap it around a tree or phone-pole. When I was 16 I wasn't near Dad's car. I'd moved into my girlfriend's house and we had no need or desire for cars. Plenty of mass-transit to get everywhere in the area. And I was too busy anywho - independent advanced organic-chemical synthesis on such lofty molecules as unknown beta-Carbolines and n,alkyl-substituted tryptamines as synthetic congeners to naturally occuring ones used as sacraments in South American Native Shamanism.

    And teaching high-school chemistry in an excellent private school for folks too damn smart to be tortured to death in the public systems.

    So while I don't drive and have no interest in acquiring one, I do like knowing which is what and how.

    Now back to more pressing issues - SvBony EP's - so you've found them to be not too bad a deal based on their performance, eh? And the price made me do a double-take. I guess I'll cave-in and get a 23mm. That would spit a 17.4X in the ST80 and a 78.25X in my Maksutov - rounded out. I can't do a 10mm in good standing with my new 9mm. That thing is nice! I was quite surprised at that. But 23mm sounds about right regards 'aspheric' optics go. There - I think I've justified myself - now I only need to convince myself!

    Doomed -

    Dave
     
  4. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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  5. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Oh dear! I just found out the $35.99 is for the set-o'-3! That's $11.99 each! Are they out of their 'blinking' capitalist-piggie minds??!! Whatever - I pulled the 'Golden-Trigger!'

    What did they cost you over your neck-o'-de-woods?

    <sputter, sputter...>

    evaD
     
  6. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    They were about 11~12 quid each. They're mostly plastic bodied and the eye lens is a polymer, so I'm guessing cheap to produce.
     
  7. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    William Paolini thinks they're very good - regardless of the plastic body and aspheric lens-element. So that's a good plug! He also shares your warm feelings for the undercut-barrels, too.

    No wonder you liked that thread over in RowdyFights.

    We shall see...

    evaD
     
  8. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    The undercuts aren't too bad, and the overall baffling and blacking on the drawtubes is good and easily compares to anything else twice as expensive. I swapped the original drawtubes for smooth chrome/brass ones on my 10mm bino pair. They were cannibalised from an old pair of Sky-Watcher MA's.

    I've had to thread them in upside down and so filters can't be threaded into them now, but I prefer chromed brass anyway and they'll be fine for the bino as nothing needs to be threaded into them anyway. The other 10mm has an old Japanese chromed brass tube from a borked Astro Hutech so I can use it on my Newtonian.

    The 23mm drawtube has a male thread like a lot of 25mm Plossl tubes, although I found an old GSO tube that fits it well. I've left the original tube on as it seemed to play well with the Baader helical focuser.

    The 4mm has a negative lens placed in the drawtube, so I can't really replace that.

    Undercuts are relatively fine, just as long as they're not used in combination with a bloody compression ring!
     
  9. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    OK I went crazy and ordered a pair of the 23's for my bino ...
    23mm bino.jpg

    I mean, 12 squid apiece right? The dreaded undercuts seem to be behaving.

    IMG_20171004_131122.jpg

    I found my old squinty Aldi binoculars. Not so good for astronomy but OK for keeping an eye on the horrid cats. The little basket has discovered a way of sneaking past the ultrasonic detectors. I saw him sneak past my EQ5 this morning. I've ordered more metal cats. This is war now!

    IMG_20171004_122639.jpg

    And I'm getting all learned up about Herschel.
     
  10. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    I’ve swapped one of the 10mm SvBony Apheric drawtubes and threaded it onto the Celestron Omni Barlow (on the left). On the right you can see a Celestron Barlow (from the Eyeopener kit) with its original aluminium drawtube. It might be my imagination but the undercut lips on the Omni look very slightly more sloped. It does appear to handle compression ring extraction slightly more easily.

    IMG_20171004_173438.jpg

    Below you can see the Omni at the bottom and its ‘SvBony’ drawtube compared to the original kit Barlow drawtube at the top. I think the flocking/blacking is better on the SvBony.

    IMG_20171004_173656.jpg
     
  11. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    I'm on the Cat's side, you know. Mine just bought an airline ticket to London. He'll be by directly...

    a2bce760-4d57-11e4-b26b-cfbcf7bf78dc_8.jpg


    Been nice knowing you!

    evaD :p
     
  12. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Luckily I don't live in London. He's got to find me first. He looks scary, but the horrid cats are devious. I mean, you just don't spray the leg of chap's EQ5, it's not cricket.

    The horrid cats are so for it!
     
  13. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    He'll find you. Cats are excellent at stalking their prey, you know. :D

    R & D
     
  14. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    The metal cats say they'll protect me. They never lie. I don't have to feed them either.
     
  15. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    Ahh they don,t have a 12mm svbony. I am looking for a 12mm something to get my 80x without a Barlow.
     
  16. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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  17. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    It’s looking increasingly unlikely that I’ll catch the Mars ~ Venus conjunction due to pants weather. The 50 kph winds did almost clear the Moon for a short while, enabling me to get a brief butcher’s at a nearly Harvest Moon with the f/11, 90mm Omegon Mak.

    Image ~ Virtual Moon Atlas & Paint.NET
    VASCO DA GAMA.jpg


    I got 25x with the 40mm SvBony Plossl (slightly customised) and about 43x with the 23mm Aspheric. I’m warming to the eye placement on the 40mm, it seems easier than larger 40mm Plossls for some reason. Even at the present phase some terminator detail could be seen. Vasco Da Gama was quite easily made out.
     
  18. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    I should like to take this opportunity to welcome my Friend 'Nebula' to this - 'The Thread Without End!'

    He seemed a bit hesitant to jump in, and I am very glad to see he did! Welcome. So shall we discuss our Bowling Scopes and good North Korean eyepieces not made in China?

    Wait for it.....

    R & D
     
  19. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    The Thread Without End! :p

    heheh yes I am here!

    Well because my scope is F5, I don't have access to economy eyepieces very much. But at 9$ I would have ordered a 12mm svbony just for fun. .More then that.. I don't know, I already have 25mm xcelLX with 2x barlow gaving me a 12mm eyepiece.

    Something strange is happening to me, my love for my Fujiyama 7mm is fading away because of the 42d FOV. My plan was to get the 12mm orthoscopic eventually, but I don't feel like it anymore. I like the 80x 60 degrees AFOV from the XcelLX.

    Just swapping between 60 and 42 degrees and I have the WOW! effect with the 60d.

    The starguider is a great option, i would like to own one of these.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2017
  20. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    I didn't stand a chance! Mak put me on Auto-Pilot and hurtling straight into the cash-register in SvBony-Stan! $35.99 for the three of those oddities with a plastic-lens element? Of course I bit into the apple!

    So Mak - any late thoughts on who is behind these EP's? Synta on drugs? GSO on cheap Port? Inquiring minds wish to know more about these now awaited-for tenants of an eyepiece-case. Interesting they were proposed to Celestron, but I'll bet the plastic-lens element put em' off them. Some tripe about Celestron going to plastic for their optics, and their share in the telescope-markets could feasibly crash through the floorboards! Plastic! The HORROR! :eek:

    evaD
     

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